Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti
BULLETIN
Vol. LXII
No. 1/2010
45 - 51
Economic Sciences
Series
Customer Preference for Branded Computers with
Special Reference to Post Graduate Students
Annamalai Solayappan, Jothi Jayakrishnan
Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Tamilnadu, India
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Abstract
Purchase decision making is a complex amalgam of needs and desires. It is influenced by factors such as
consumer's societal role, social and cultural environment, aspiration and inhibitions. In this article, the
researchers trz to find out the customer's preference for branded computers. Exploratory research has
been made with postgraduate students of various disciplines in leading institutions in Chennai to find out
the most important factors influencing the purchase of branded computers. After the influencing factors
are identified, a self- structured questionnaire has been developed with 5 point scale. It was circulated to
the postgraduate students of Arts, Science and Professional courses. Factor analysis and ANOVA have
been employed to establish the important influencing factors on the purchase of branded computers and
differences of opinion among the students. According to this study, Quality, Specification / Configuration,
Reasonable price, Credit, Service, Experience person, Offers, Style, Guarantee, Warrantee and Product
availability are the inducing factors for the purchase of branded computers among post graduate students
of Chennai.
Key Words: preference, student segment, branded computers and values
JEL Classification: M31
Introduction
In today’s tough competitive world every thing can be easily done by means of computers.
Nowadays, this powerful tool can be properly utilized by the students. The future digital world
is in the hands of the student community. The use of computers in education started in the
1960s. With the advent of the convenient micro computers in the 1970s, computer use in
schools has become widespread from primary education to the university level.
Especially the post graduate students in various disciplines like arts, science and professionals
can make use of computers for doing their research works, studies, searching information,
sending as well as recording information, presentation purpose and also for entertainment. For
the purpose of fulfilling the basic needs and wants, students are ready to purchase computers;
based on their preference and taste, they purchase branded computers.
Purchase decision making pattern is a complex amalgam of needs and desires, and is influenced
by factors such as consumer's, societal role, social and cultural environment and norms and
aspiration and inhibitions. Brand is a mark, name, logo or trademark that identifies a product or
46
Annamalai Solayappan, Jothi Jayakrishnan
service or organization and distinguishes it from its competitors. The art of creating and
maintaining a brand is called brand management.
In computer market the various brands are: Acer, Compaq, Dell, Hp, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo,
Asus, Philips, Apple, IBM, Samsung, HCL, Wipro, LG, Hitachi, Gigabyte, Panasonic, Sharp,
Averatec, Everex, Mac, Advent, Mesh, Parkard bell, Gateway, The rest, MDG, Zepto,
Trigem,G7 etc. Among these, the leading brands of computers in the markets are: Sony, Hp and
Compaq, Lenovo, Acer, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, HCL, IBM and LG.
The basic factors which influence the students to buy branded computers are as follows: Good
quality, Reasonable price, Specification / Configuration, Guarantee, Warrantee, Additional
Warrantee, Regular service, Originality, Components and Products availability, Experienced
sales and service person, Demos, On- line purchasing, Customer care centers, Attractive styles,
Perfect finishing, Different models, Website information, Genuine offers, Attractive
advertisement, Celebrities in advertisement, Credit facilities, Safety, Security, Supportiveness,
Ranges of price, Lesser risk, Door delivery, Updating of product, Brand image etc.
Objective
The main objective of the research is to identify the preference among the student's segment
while purchasing branded computers.
Methodology
The researcher had an in-depth discussion with the student community to explore the various
factors on preference for the purchase of the branded computers.
From this discussion the researcher has identified 30 dominating factors in the post graduate
students segment for the purchase of branded computers. This research paper is exploratory in
nature. Then the researcher developed a questionnaire which included all the 30 factors in the 5
point scale. 5 stands for “strongly agree” and 1 stands for “strongly disagree”. In Chennai, one
college was selected for this study. From this college Arts, Science and Professional students
were selected for conducting the survey. In each discipline, 30 post graduate students were
selected with the random sampling method. Then the questionnaire was circulated to 90 post
graduate students in these disciplines.
The primary data thus collected was coded and then entered in the SPSS 15 version.
Furthermore, Factor analysis has been applied to group the relevant factors. One way ANOVA
was also applied to find out the variance of opinion among the students towards various factors.
Results and Discussion
In the case of branded computers, customer’s Preference has been identified with the help of
factor analysis. It has been extracted through the Eigen (e) value, greater than one. The 30
factors are loaded under the heading of 6 factors. The 6 factors represent 65.8% of variance of
the attributes considered for the study as pointed out in Table 1 below.
From the principle component analysis-varimax extraction, the attributes with high factor
loading are: Quality, Specification / Configuration, Originality, Models, Safety & Security and
Perfect finishing. These are the factors contributing to the first factor and their factor loading is
as follows: 0.78, 0.76, 0.72, 0.69, 0.67 and 0.62. These attributes determine the product values.
Therefore they have been grouped under the heading of a First factor, named “PRODUCT
VALUE”.
Customer Preference for Branded Computers with Special Reference to Post Graduate …
47
Table 1. Factor analysis of preference for branded computer
S.NO
Factors
Quality
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Specification/
configuration
Originality
Models
Safety & security
Finishing
Product
value
Money
value
Service
value
Promoti
on value
Brand
value
Time
value
0.784
0.760
0.720
0.690
0.670
0.620
Reasonable price
0.73
Credit
Various Ranges
Up gradation
0.69
0.52
0.43
Service
0.81
Experience person
Care center
Delivery
Demo’s
0.80
0.78
0.72
0.62
Offers
0.76
Style
Advertisement
Celebrities
Free Accessories
Web sites
information
0.69
0.63
0.59
0.55
0.52
Guarantee
0.77
Warrantee
Additional Warrantee
Risk less
0.55
0.53
0.51
Product Availability
0.68
components
Availability
0.52
Source: Primary data computed; Principle component analysis with varimax Rotation.
Reasonable price, credit facilities, various range of price and future up gradation of product are
the factors loaded into the second category. The factor loading of these attributes is: 0.73, 0.69,
0.52, and 0.43. These groups have been included under the heading “MONEY VALUE”.
Reasonable price and credit facilities are the contributing factors for money value.
The third factor has been constituted by taking into account the attributes of after sales and
service, experienced sales & services person, customer care centers, proper delivery and demo
with the factor loading of 0.81, 0.80, 0.78, 0.72 and 0.62. These attributes have been named
“SERVICE VALUE”. The attributes after sales and service and experienced service person are
found to make a greater contribution than demo to this service value.
The fourth factor is supported by attributes such as: genuine offers, attractive styles, attractive
advertisement, celebrities in advertisement, free accessories and information in the website.
These attributes are grouped under “PROMOTION VALUE”. The factor loading of these
attributes are 0.76, 0.69, 0.63, 0.59, 0.55 and 0.52. Genuine offers and attractive style are the
factors that contribute to this promotion value.
48
Annamalai Solayappan, Jothi Jayakrishnan
The fifth factor is supported by the guarantee with high factor loading of 0.77. Warrantee,
additional Warrantee, and risk less with the factor loading of 0.55, 0.53 and 0.51.These
attributes are also named “BRAND VALUE”.
Availability of products in the computers and availability of the components are the factors
loaded into sixth category with the factor loading of 0.68 and 0.52 and grouped under the
heading “TIME VALUE”. Thus factor analysis indicated that students’ preference for branded
computers depends upon major attributes such as: Product value, Money value, Service value,
Promotion value, Brand value and Time value.
Furthermore, one way ANOVA (Table 2) has been applied to find out the variance of preference
among the students among various factors such as: Product value, Money value, Service value,
Promotion value, Brand value and Time value.
Table 2. Students’ purchase preference for branded computers
ANOVA RESULT
S.NO
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
FACTORS
Product
Value
Money
Value
Service
value
Promotion
value
Brand
value
Time value
STUDENTS
SEGMENTATION
N
Arts(A)
30
3.82
1.29
Science(S)
30
4.09
0.28
Professional(P)
30
4.68
0.19
Arts(A)
Science(S)
Professional(P)
30
30
30
4.23
4.12
3.58
0.38
0.18
1.08
Arts(A)
30
4.02
1.19
Science(S)
30
4.32
1.89
Professional(P)
30
4.19
0.98
Arts(A)
30
4.28
0.38
Science(S)
30
3.92
1.02
Professional(P)
30
3.34
0.98
Arts(A)
Science(S)
Professional(P)
30
30
30
3.29
4.41
4.42
0.90
0.42
0.43
Arts(A)
30
4.35
1.28
Science(S)
30
4.58
0.92
30
4.72
0.78
Professional(P)
Source: Primary data computed.
: Significant at 5% level.
NS: Not Significant.
MEAN
F
P
VALUE
BONFERRO
NI
TEST
VALUE
5.531
0.026**
P,S vs A
5.320
0.028**
A,S vs P
1.770
0.211
(NS)
----------
5.378
0.020**
A vs S,P
5.300
0.050**
P,S vs A
5.780
0.058
(NS)
---------
SD
In the case of Product value, professional and science degree holders have high level of
preference on purchase of branded computers. While reading the p-value, students’ perceptions
vary significantly depending on their discipline of specialisation. Bonferroni test value also
indicates that professional and science degree holders are having similar opinions, but they
differed from Arts student.
Customer Preference for Branded Computers with Special Reference to Post Graduate …
49
With regard to Money value, arts students are more consciously followed by science and
professional degree holder. While observing the p-value, student’s perception significantly
varied. Bonferroni test value indicates that arts and science students have similar opinions on
Money value. The higher usage of computers may decrease the opportunity cost of money in the
case of professional students and hence may assign lower importance to money value. For Arts
and science students, the opportunity cost of money may be higher and thus it may attach higher
importance to money value and hence may prefer installment purchase. This may be the reason
for the difference in opinion on Money value among students segments.
As regards service value, all the segments of students are in the same category. All the degree
holders purely need the common one that is service. This is yet to be confirmed by the p- value
as well as Bonferroni test value, all the category of students have similar opinion when coming
to the service value. The computer is a product that can only be used with proper service for
both software and hardware and this is proved by the opinion of professional, Arts and science
students on service value.
Promotion plays a vital role in the arts segment. Offers may be the influencing factor for the arts
segments. While purchasing the branded computer, Arts students may prefer the offers, whereas
the remaining factors such as styles, influence of celebrities may influence the science and
professional students. In the case of professional segmetn, necessity and usage and also the
present trend of being supplied a computer by the institute itself reduce the importance of
promotion.
But in the case of science and Arts segment, the basic buying intuition starts with the
promotion. Hence, celebrity promotion plays a role here. They varied significantly based on
their discipline and this was observed by p-value. Science and Professional students also have a
similar idea about promotion and this was obvious from the Bonferroni test value.
While considering the factors under Brand value heading, professionals followed by the arts
students attach importance to the purchase of branded computers. Arts students may play the
least role when compared to the others. Guarantee, Warrantee and Additional Warrantee may
highly influence the professional as well as the science segment. This is confirmed by the pvalue which significantly varied depending on the disciplines. Professionals and science
students have a similar idea about the Brand value and this is noticed in the Bonferroni test
value. Most of the students in professional and science segment believe in the guarantee,
warrantee of the branded computers. Anyway, guarantee and warrantee may play the realistic
role in the professional and science segment.
Time value is preferred by all segments of the students. Product availability and components
availability of their brand influence all categories of students in attaching importance to time
value. The reading the p-value as well as Bonferroni test value indicates that all categories of
students have similar opinions on time value.
Implications of the Study
Arts and science students are price conscious while compared to the professional students.
Reasonable prices as well as credit facilities are the factors to determine the arts and science
students to purchase branded computers. So, if companies can properly and favorably
concentrate on this segment, sales volume of the product can increase. Consumers can thus
benefit from a reasonable price. All categories of students expect after sales and service. Being
offered proper and prompt service, the customers really feel the value of branded computers.
They are satisfied with their brand and they also turn to be opinion leaders.
Arts students are impressed with promotional value such as offers, styles etc. Promotional
strategy is a tool for promoting the branded computers. It can serve to stimulate learning. The
50
Annamalai Solayappan, Jothi Jayakrishnan
marketer can provide cash discount, free gift, components and free accessories without raising
the actual price. Cues serve to direct customer drives when they are consistent with consumer
expectations. Marketers must be careful to provide cues that fail to meet those expectations.
Cues are to serve as the stimuli that guide customer actions in the direction desired by the
marketer. In the market-place, price, styling, packaging, advertising, and store displays all serve
as cues to help customer fulfill their needs in product-specific ways.
This research shows that student segments require quality as well as service; these factors will
promote the branded computers. If the marketer wants to defeat the competition, they should
provide qualitative and original products. When the customers enjoy the value of the product,
and start using the branded computers they become surrogate buyers.
Professional and science students are happy with guarantee and warrantee of the product. The
marketer can give guarantee and warrantee as per buyer’s expectation. If any physical damage,
short circuit happens, the marketer can fulfill the needs and wants of the customers. The
marketer can exploit this belief and turn his product into customer delight.
Availability of components and products at the right time ensures time value for customers. In
case of non-availability of the product, if the customers are made to wait for a longer time, they
will turn out to be mercenary customers. If the marketer overcomes the non-availability, then it
is possible to convert all the enquiry seekers into customers.
Limitations
The study was conducted among the post graduate students of a college at Chennai. So the
outcome of the study could be generalized. The study was conducted during the period of
college reopening (1st week of June 2009). So the preference for the purchase of a branded
computer among the students community varied according to their college, time as well as
college location.
Conclusion
The research has shown that branded computers play a prestigious role in the students segment.
Due to the computer world everything is in the hands of the students. Nowadays students are
ready to shape up the sharpest future of the competitive world by means of computers.
Everything in the world seems to be digital. The future growth of the country will be decided by
the students themselves. Everyone needs a computer to drive a smooth and fast race. Especially,
branded computers will try to safeguard the competitive race. So, these various factors
discussed may definitely determine the student to purchase branded computers.
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Customer Preference for Branded Computers with Special Reference to Post Graduate …
51
Preferinţa clienţilor pentru computerele de marcă – studiu de caz
privind opinia absolvenţilor de colegiu
Rezumat
Decizia de cumpărare reprezintă un amalgam complex de nevoi şi dorinţe. Aceasta este influenţată de
factori precum: rolul consumatorului în societate, mediul social şi cultural, aspiraţii şi inhibiţii. În acest
articol, cercetătoriii încearcă să descopere preferinţele clienţilor pentru computerele de marcă.
Cercetarea exploratorie a fost efectuată pe un grup de absolvenţi specializaţi în diferite discipline în
cadrul unor instituţii cunoscute din Chennai pentru a identifica cei mai importanţi factori care
influenţează achiziţia de computere de marcă. După stabilirea factorilor, a fost proiectat un chestionar
structurat pe o scală de 5 puncte. Acesta a fost administrat absolvenţilor specializărilor: arte, ştiinţe şi
cursuri profesionale. Analiza factorială şi ANOVA au fost utilizate pentru a descoperi factorii importanţi
care influenţează achiziţia computerelor de marcă şi variaţiile de opinie printre studenţi. Conform
acestui studiu, calitatea, configurarea, preţul rezonabil, creditul, serviciile, experienţa persoanei,
ofertele, stilul, garanţia, disponibilitatea produsului constituie factorii care determină achiziţia de
computere de marcă printre absolvenţii din Chennai.